N380CR AAIB Report

[Joe le Taxi]

climbing in pitch mode can also lead to a stall.

Not unless you select a crazy angle of pitch. Set a normal climb NU angle, close the thrust levers and see what happens - Stall? No, just a descent. Turbulence or sharp temperature gradient - rides it nicely with very little fluctuation in speed (unlike v/s). In fact, pitch holds a remarkably constant Mach number all the way up the climb - I could complete a fiendish sudoku and not have to touch the AFGS!

[tommoutrie]

Why did I get called ignorant and judgemental for saying the same thing as everyone else?

I give up, the evil AOA did it. Ground the fleet immediately, the plane is a death trap.

[deefer dog]

Set a normal climb NU angle, close the thrust levers and see what happens - Stall?

Good observation Joe, but how does one climb with zero thrust? (That is what we were discussing, were we not?)

[Joe le Taxi]

My point is, once a correct cruise climb pitch is set, of all the modes, pitch is least likely to get you into trouble due to inattention, diminishing thrust or airmass vagaries, and also avoids the phugoid pitching of FLC. VS is a highly divergent mode in the climb. I do agree though - Airbus and Boeing both manage to produce FLCH/VNAV modes which are nice and steady, so why can't we have the same?